Corona and the new-look XXXX Summer Bright

Lion has prepared for life after Corona with the relaunch of its clear bottle alternative, XXXX Summer Bright Lager, together with a new mango-flavoured version.

XXXX Summer Bright has taken a back seat over the last few years, with Corona in the Lion stable.

CUB regain the Mexican brand next Monday October 1, with this week’s news that shareholders have voted in favour of the combination of AB InBev and SABMiller.

Lion has kicked off the new era in earnest with the relaunch of XXXX Summer Bright Lager in a contemporary new look.

XXXX marketing manager Richard Knight said the brand refresh was an important step in connecting the beer to the ‘new generation’ of beer drinkers who drive long-term growth in the category.

“These younger beer drinkers are highly visual so we needed to land a look and feel that not only makes them excited to be associated with the beer, but also conveys that XXXX Summer Bright Lager is the true taste of the Australian summer,” he said.

Flavoured beer growing

The beer will be joined by another flavoured offshoot, Summer Bright Lager with Mango, which joins the Lime version already in the family.

“We grew XXXX Summer Bright Lager by 4,000,000 litres with the launch of Lime in 2015. We hope to grow that even further with the addition of Summer Bright Lager with Mango,” said Knight.

Summer Bright Lager with Mango

“There are approximately 20 flavoured beer products available in Australia and options are limited to lemon, lime and apple. Mango proved to be the clear front-runner flavour in our sensory research and we think it will be very popular.”

XXXX Summer Bright Lager previously had a Cloudy Ginger Beer offshoot, but it appears this was deleted shortly after Lion won the Corona rights in 2012.

In Australia, the flavoured beer segment currently accounts for 15 million litres (about a quarter of the size of craft) and is growing at 25 per cent a year, according to Aztec data quoted by Lion.

Flavoured beer has also emerged as one of the fastest growing segments in US craft beer.